While the old monsters spoke of serious matters, Elena and Ryu continued to float around from social group to social group.
It wasn't difficult for Ryu to notice the jealousy in the eyes of the young men he interacted with, but not many dared to show it outright. Although Elena was a young maiden in many of their hearts, it wasn't as though Ryu was a country bumpkin. In fact, if there was ever a direct opposite of such a term, Ryu would likely be the first choice for such a title.
Normally, after more than six-hundred years since their engagement, the hearts of these young men would have cooled off by now. However, it was exactly because it had been so long that such sparks relit.
Who didn't know about Ryu's limited lifespan? Who didn't know about the Light Shrine's dissatisfaction with their young Saintess? Many began putting pieces together and fabricating stories to help themselves sleep at night.
Some believed that Elena was a kind-hearted goddess who simply pitied Ryu's plight. They thought that Ryu had likely confessed to her, causing her to feel uncomfortable rejecting him. To them, Elena just saw this as a small investment for her conscience. After all, this cripple wouldn't live that much longer anyway.
Other, slightly older individuals remembered past circulated rumors about Elena's grandmother. According to these stories, Elena's grandmother had forced Ryu's grandfather into a corner utilizing a potent aphrodisiac even after he had married Mistress Kunan. As the theory went, they believed that Elena wanted to repay the debt of pain her grandmother had caused to Ryu's family by promising herself to Ryu.
Although these beliefs were somewhat reasonable, there were obviously foolish reasonings among them as well. For example, some thought that Ryu's parents, being blindly despondent with their poor son's plight, were willing to use their influence in evil ways. So, they had pressured the Holy Wing Clan and the Light Shrine into betrothing their Saintess to their son on threat of war.
The worst of these conspiracy theories were always centered around Ryu being a good-for-nothing who only relied on his parents since he couldn't build up any power of his own. These foolish individuals didn't even realize that if the Tatsuya and Kunan Clans were even a tenth as despicable as these rumors claimed, anyone even thinking these thoughts would be grinded to dust under their rage.
"Well, if it isn't Sister Elena and Brother Ryu. I have to say, you two truly match the image of a heavenly couple. This poor Wind Shrine Heir toasts to you two."
A young man with light green hair reminiscent of distilled tea bowed slightly toward the couple, his handsome features gleaming with arrogance. To his left and his right were two close friends of his.
The young man himself was the leader of the current generation of his Ventus Clan, Gale Ventus. As for his friends, one was the heir of a subordinate Clan of the Ventus – similar to the relationship the Tatsuya Clan shared with the Scarlet Clan – The Eurus Clan's Zephyr Eurus. The other had status equal to that of Gale, having a family that controlled the Water Shrine, the Unda Clan's Lacus Unda.
Ryu emotionlessly looked toward the three young men before him. Although they could be considered members of the younger generation, they were several million years older than Ryu. Truth be told, someone Ryu's age wouldn't normally be allowed to come to such events as they spent much of their early lives training. But, for obvious reasons, Ryu couldn't do this.
The short of it was that these young men essentially grew up along with Elena, so the reason for their clearly fake smiles was evident.
That said, Ryu didn't care about this, what he was actually noting was the arrogance of this young man. One had to understand that naming yourself the Heir of a Clan and naming yourself the Heir of a Shrine were two wholly different concepts. The fact this Ventus Clan Heir dared to say that he would inherit the Wind Shrine, and in front of one of his competitors, Zephyr, made this young man's personality clear and obvious.
Calling himself "poor" before directly contradicting this statement mere syllables later to raise up his status so high… This young man liked to lay traps within his words.
"I see…" Ryu spoke slowly. "I have long since heard the name of the Ventus Clan's young rising star. I believe it won't be long before you surpass your elder brothers. A great talent indeed! It's unfortunate that I won't be alive to see you sprout your wings fully."
Although Gale's face remained neutral, there was a clear flash of anger in his eyes. Not only did Ryu diminish his role to "rising star" of the Ventus Clan, he even mentioned his elder brothers in making it clear that his road wasn't easy by any stretch. Then, to top it all off, Ryu removed the best counter Gale had available to him by mentioning his inability to cultivate outright. At the same time, this implied that Gale was very far away from succeeding in his ambitions since Ryu wouldn't even live to see it.
How could there be such airtight words?!
Elena smiled lightly as he looked toward this fiancé of hers. Getting into a war of words with Ryu? It was like attacking an impenetrable empire from their strongest point. Nothing but the epitome of foolishness.
Of course, Gale didn't see it this way. After all, to him, Ryu was not only a cripple, he had barely lived a millennium. Gale himself had already lost count of the sets of thousand year spans he had lived through. How could he take Ryu seriously? Yet, it was clear to everyone that he had suffered a loss.
To the side, while Zephyr displayed a fiercer anger than Gale, Lacus' eyes shone with a sparkle of intelligence as he calmly gazed toward Ryu. 'This Ryu… Why does he seem so unfathomable?'
Before Gale could retort, the sound of a soft chime rang through the ceremonial halls.
"It's about time that we begin the festivities!" Titus Tatsuya stood out grandly, the beautiful Mistress Tatsuya by his side wearing an unblemished white gown. "First, we eat. And then, I'll present my gift to my son and Sole Heir!"